Changes
by MawrisaLovesSasuSaku
Summary: And as she watched Naruto fall to the ground, she just wished she could go back in time to change everything, and then suddenly, she was twelve again...
1. Chapter 1

**I believe I have what it takes to juggle between this and Relapse. And if not, I will not give up on either. I don't care how long it takes, these stories will be finished. I ate some plot broccoli today and it gave me this annoyingly persistent idea. While I'm all for SasuSaku - if it wasn't obvious by now - I'm not making a pairing just yet, because this is a mostly Sakura centric fic. So don't expect pairings until later chapters. **

**Disclaimer: I have overthrown Masashi and taken my rightful place as the true owner of Naurto. Oh crap! The cops just busted in my door! **

**Chapter 1**

_No, no, no, no! _Sakura Haruno thought frantically. She and Naruto had been assigned a year long mission to take Sasuke Uchiha back, Tsunade said it was urgent. Sasuke had apparently joined the Akatsuki after hearing the truth of his family's murder from a participant in the slaughter himself, Madara Uchiha. It was all incredibly frustrating.

"Ahhh!" Sakura's head snapped in the direction of the scream, and instantly wished she hadn't. It was horrible, the place was wrecked and there was blood and holes and bodies and... Sakura didn't even know what else.

"Naruto!" she cried helplessly. She couldn't make it in time to heal him, Sasuke had plunged his sword into Naruto's heart. She couldn't help him, she was useless, a _burden, _again. Still. The one person in her life that always seemed to be there for her, and she couldn't be there for him. The one time he needed her.

She couldn't believe Sasuke would do this, refused to believe, and yet; some part of her always believed. She could hardly breath when Sasuke ruthlessly ripped the sword out of his chest. Couldn't breath at all when Naruto fell to his knees. And died a little when Sasuke sauntered toward her.

_No, no, no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen! _she sobbed uncontrollably. Sasuke was nearing her, faster than she would've liked.

_Naruto and I had always done everything we could to save Sasuke, why did this happen to us! It can't be true! This is all a terrible nightmare! _Sasuke was so close now she just had to reach out and her hand would brush his torso. Another sob ripped through her and she clenched her eyes shut.

_This can't be the end! I wish I could just go back in time to when we were Team Seven! _she shouted in her head. Sakura wrapped her arms around herself and waited for her impending doom, but it never came. She opened her eyes and found Sasuke being sucked into a white flashing portal.

"Sasuke!" she couldn't help herself, she still cared for him. She reached forward and grabbed his hand, being sucked into the portal as well.

* * *

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Sakura felt herself being shaken violently, and her natural shinobi instincts reeled and she punched the offender.

"Ow! What was that for?!" _Naruto...? But he died! Didn't he? Who cares! He's here right now_!

"Naruto! Oh Naruto!" she cried and tackled him in a bear hug. She forgot about her strength and crushed him.

"Sa-Sakura-chan! You're hurting me!" Sakura giggled and released him. He was wearing that typical grin and he was blushing. Wait, blushing? Naruto hadn't blushed when she hugged him since he was thirteen... Sakura took a moment to take in her surroundings and to study the people around her.

_Oh my Kami... What the hell did I do?_ Sakura wasn't at the fated valley anymore, she was at the Ninja Academy, with her twelve year old teammates... This was when her, Naruto, and Sasuke were made a team. She slowly rose to the floor. There was no mirror in the room, but luckily - about the only thing lucky that came out of it - she was still infatuated with Sasuke, and carried one with her. She hesitantly took it out from her pouch. All the while her teammates were watching her as if she'd grown another foot out of her ear.

"Sakura-chan, why do you look like you just saw a horror movie? And why did you just hug me like you haven't seen me in years - not that I'm complaining - but a couple minutes before you passed out on us you hates me." Naruto inquired. Okay, so Naruto doesn't remember what happened. But Sasuke might, he was sucked into the portal with her, after all. She turned to look at him, anxious about the possibility that he does remember and he would try to kill them again, and the relief she would feel if he didn't... And saw him staring at her as if she had snakes in her hair.

"Oh, um, I didn't get much sleep last night and when I, ugh, passed out; I had a nightmare." she explained. Naruto looked satisfied with her pathetic explanation, but Sasuke looked suspicious. Sakura sighed and made a mental note to act as normally as possible, or as normal as she was in this time.

"Why did you pull out your mirror?" Naruto asked. She shrugged and tried to smile cheerfully.

"I wanted to check my hair," she falsely told him. Naruto nodded. Sakura pulled up the mirror, still half convinced that she was _actually _in her twelve year old body. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the playful green round eyes and round face and long hair... of her twelve year old body.

_It's true, somehow I went back in time. I will not sulk over this! This is a blessing, I can make the world better. I have too..._

_

* * *

_

Teehee, its a prologue, so its not going to be as long as regular chapters. I'm dabbling with new ideas. Just trying to better myself as a writer (:

Reviews help be sleep at night, which help me update faster because I'm not as tired :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Sup people? Since my readers were all being deliciously awesome yesterday and I got more reviewers than expected, a treat is in order! What would y'all like? Another chapter? Well, that will ave to be arranged then won't it! Oh, would 'ya look at that, another chapter. This is dedicated to all those lovely reviewers, whose names are: **

**XxDarkSarcasm1010xX**

**lorientmnt**

**stringless-marionette **

**Me-Love-SakuraXAkatsuki**

**You all rock! ;D**

**Naruto... Ugh, the newest manga chapter left me restless. At least Karin is dead! And I hope that Sakura catches up to Sasuke before he catches up to Konoha! I'll cry! Damn you Sasuke! I hate you and love you at the same time! :[**

**Disclaimer: I don't believe I will ever own Naruto, what a shame. I have such good ideas. **

**Chapter 2**

So, somehow, Sakura Haruno had gone back in time about five years. Wonderful. She'd have to relive all the experiences in her life that gave her horrendous nightmares. She wondered if this time, since she was trapped in this time anyway, she could change it. But, she'd still have to act like she did when she really was this age, but less fangirl-ish. Easy, Sakura was beyond pissed at Sasuke anyway. The hard part was actually being nice to him in _some _way, she couldn't just ignore and sass him that much because just an hour ago she was drooling at the mouth just glancing at him. Now she couldn't go a couple minutes without glaring at him.

"Why is our sensei so late?! Everyone else's sensei's already came and took out their team! Ugh!" Naruto complained, Sakura resisted the urge to giggle. She had to act as if she really were twelve still, she scolded herself. That means fangirling and Naruto hating. So she placed her hands on her hips and glared at Naruto.

"Stop complaining Naruto, you're giving me a headache!" Sakura very nearly laughed. It was the hilarity of it all. No, the irony. Well, whatever it was, Sakura found this very amusing in a very sick way. It was definitely the irony. Who would've thought she'd be given this miracle?! Certainly not her; for a while before this crazy situation, she thought she must have kicked a puppy then punched a kitten in another life. There was just no way her life could be _that _miserable without some reason. Guess Kami was just screwing with her. Either way, Sakura was determined to see this as a blessing, and not a terrible dream.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted from his seat. Sakura controlled herself quickly before she found herself glaring at him again. She'd have to do something about that. But it was all is fault, not in this time, but still! Naruto suddenly smirked mischievously. Oh, Sakura knew what was coming...

"Hey guys, wanna play a prank on Kakashi-sensei?" he asked while grabbing an eraser from the blackboard. _Bingo! _Sakura thought to herself. She dramatically sighed, keeping up her charade.

"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei is an _elite _ninja," she stated. Naruto gave her a confused look.

"Right, right. An elite ninja..." she mentally laughed at him.

"She means he's a jounin, as in a ninja who could easily dodge an eraser," Sasuke lazily said. Sakura huffed, she was going to say that... _Keep up the act! _the smarter part of her screamed inside her head. She broke into an overzealous grin.

"Right Sasuke-kun!" her face twitched while the revengeful part of her said, _The same Sasuke-kun that killed Naruto and very nearly you. Just in a smaller more innocent body. _Even though she knew that was true, she ignored that thought. He looked at her, annoyed.

"Got it!" Naruto cried victoriously from the door frame. The eraser was up. Sakura allowed herself a small smirk, this meant Kakashi was coming very soon.

"Naruto you idiot! Like Kakashi-sensei would ever fall for that one!" Sakura was silently congratulating herself for being such a good actress. She didn't think she had it in her! Just then she saw the sliver, spiky-headed hair of her sensei peer in the door... And watched the eraser fall on his head. She couldn't help herself, she started laughing. When all the laughter - namely Sakura and Naruto - died down, she heard the one line that were always in her thoughts.

"My first impressions on]f you guys, hm... You're all a bunch of idiots." just as Sakura had done the first time, she dropped her head down, hiding a huge smile.

**Learning more abut each other...**

"All right, now I want you all to tell everybody your likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams, that sort of stuff," Kakashi drawled out from behind his book. Sakura started to panic a little, she had no idea what to say this time. Last time all she said was that she was an obsessive stalker of Sasuke, and that was the last thing she wanted to say now.

In her head she went over brief possible choices, her best one saying that she wanted to train to become a medical ninja like Tsunade, but in this time she had no idea who the sannin were; so that one was out.

She tuned out Kakashi's horrible explanation about himself, tuned out Naruto's ramen and hokage speech, and tuned out Sasuke's dark declaration; concentrating on what to say. So she was a little shocked when it was her turn. She gulped.

"Um, I like to hang out with friends, I don't really dislike anything, and I hope to become an amazing medical ninja." Normal, that was normal right? She hoped so. She dared a glance at Kakashi's face and saw his usual bored expression, and figured she was in the clear.

"Okay, everybody meet at the training grounds bright and early tomorrow, we're going to have a little mission-"

"Already?!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Not an official one no, but you should take it seriously. This, expedition match, shall we say; will determine if you become genin, or if you're thrown back into the academy." he said casually. Sakura put on her best surprised face and joined in the chorus of "What?!"'s.

"Yup, so be prepared to give it your all. Oh, and don't eating any breakfast; or you'll lose it," he then poofed away to... wherever Kakashi goes. Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"What did he mean, 'or you'll lose it'?" Sakura gave him a withering look, giggling on the inside.

"He means you'll barf it back up." she said simply. Naruto looked horrified.

"I wonder what we'll do..." he asked aloud. _Oh, you'll find out soon enough my dear Naruto. _She answered him in her head.

"Well, it looks like we're done here. Bye Naruto, Sasuke-kun." she turned around to look at him, only to find everything but Sasuke. She growled. Typical Sasuke.

"Alrighty then, bye Naruto," she started her way home and heard Naruto scream "Bye Sakura-chan!" when she rounded the corner. She laughed. She missed this carefree Naruto.

_Okay Sakura, time to get down to business! _

Although the chunnin exams were a while away, she still wanted to think out various possibilities to avoid Orochimaru. She could request they start at a different gate, but even if they did start at a different gate, Orochimaru could still find them easily.

They could all stick together no matter what, even peeing in front of each other, but that would only gross them out and Orochimaru could still find them. Maybe she could find a way to kill Kabuto before the chunnin exams start, she was positive he was feeding Orochimaru information about their whereabouts in the Forest of Death. Had he even had teammates? She never saw them. No, no. That wouldn't work either. Orochimaru was a sannin, he could find them without any help.

Sakura sighed in frustration, their was just no way around him.

Unless...

Yes! That could definitely work! She just wouldn't join! Sakura knew that Sasuke and Naruto would immediately agree, but if she didn't, they couldn't. It was perfect! If they weren't there, they wouldn't run into Orochimaru! And she wouldn't lose her hair! And Sasuke would never get the curse seal. Well, at least not now. If she changed that then there was no guarantee that anything she remembered that happened after the chunnin exams would still happen. And plus Sasuke and Naruto would hold it against her, and Ino would torture her about it...

Okay, scratch that one too.

There was really only one more option; stand and fight. Sakura was pretty sure she still had her strength and medical knowledge from the future and she could possibly be as strong as Orochimaru. After all, she had surpassed Tsunade in strength and the medical field. But Orochimaru currently still has use of his arms. And she couldn't protect Naruto and Sasuke while fighting off Orochimaru.

Sakura groaned, this was giving her a headache.

She slipped her key into the door. When she pushed the door open, she almost cried in joy. Their were her parents. Her lovely parents that she took for granted all these years. Oh, how she missed them! They were killed way too early before their time, from the Akatsuki's leaders invasion. They could do nothing, they were civilians with no ninja training. If anything, she would prevent their death. They would not die.

Her mother got off the couch and wore a warm smile.

"How was your day, dear?" she asked sweetly. Sakura launched herself into her mothers warm embrace, scaring the older woman. Her mother smiled again and held her.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Sakura smiled.

"Nothing, mom. I'm just happy. My day was great."

In the loving embrace of her mother, Sakura temporarily forgot that she was from the future and that her parents shouldn't be there, she was just happy they were here now.

After a long, hot, relaxing shower; Sakura snuggled into her blankets, feeling nostalgic. And thought about what she would do, and how to make things better for the future.

* * *

I didn't really like the ending, but oh well. Review! (:


	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter! You guys must be so happy, I think I'm spoiling you. Oh well! **

**Irrelevant Thoughts: I have a song stuck in my head, and it's called Tik Tok by Keisha. I love that song!**

**Disclaimer: Masashi has taken Naruto back from me! Damn you! *Shakes fist angrily***

**Chapter 3**

Sakura slept very well last night. Her usual nightmares had not come and she awoke refreshed. Nothing could ruin her mood, not even the fact that all her clothes are ugly and even though she didn't want to, she's gonna have to cut her hair. She briefly thought about asking Ino to do it, but it would be kinda weird if she showed up at her door with a smile and scissors when they still hate each other. So standing in front of her vanity with a whole bunch of crap on it, she reached for her scissors.

_No, _Sakura thought, _I'll do it like last time, I liked it that way._ So with that decision, she grabbed her kunai and sliced through her hair, but much less dramatically. With a fistful of her rosy locks still in her hand, she placed the kunai on the vanity and stared at her murdered hair in the mirror.

_Not as good as when Ino fixed it, but it gives me an edgy look, _she thought. She decided to throw her hair in the trash, before she made a desperate attempt to glue it back on.

_Now, time for my clothes._ How would she fix this fashion disaster? Sakura didn't know how she could be _this _delusional when she was younger. Honestly, she deluded herself to believe Sasuke _actually _liked her and that her clothes were actually fashionable. Ridiculous.

Then she remembered something; it was really hot during little test Kakashi decided to throw at them. When she wasn't focused on her hunger or Sasuke, she was dying from the heat and humidity. So she decided to put on the outfit she wore when she went on a mission with Lee and Naruto to protect that fat king and his ungrateful son. A half shirt with the Haruno crest presented proudly on the front rimmed with white on the sleeves and bottom of it - showing off her flat tummy, and a simple red skirt also rimmed with white. That's appropriate.

When Sakura was done inspecting her hair making sure all the loose strands were out, she headed downstairs. She found her mother humming an old lullaby in the kitchen fixing breakfast. Sakura stared at her, never having been so grateful that she was alive and well. Her mother had brown hair and hazel eyes, and was beautiful for her age. Sakura inherited her mother's attitude.

Then their was her father - Heisei, she turned around and saw him flipping through channels. He was muttering to himself about the bad reception and that nothing was on the television. Sakura giggled softly, her father had always hated that and she used to get annoyed at him. Now she never felt so happy to hear it. She got her looks from him, the green eyes and pale skin. There was a long run of Haruno women getting the pink hair, and it hadn't skipped her. She didn't mind though, she loved the color. It was so unique.

"Sakura, what would you like for breakfast?" her mother asked. Believe it or not, but Sakura truly did get her attitude and brashness from her mother, Kioyki. Kioyki was a very calm person. But you just have to stay on her good side. Her mother was even more violent than Sakura.

"Pancakes,"

**Be prepared Kakashi...**

Sakura approached the training grounds with a cheerful expression. Carrying two apples, she greeted her drowsy teammates.

"Hi Naruto, Sasuke-kun!" Naruto smiled and waved.

"Sakura-chan! You look so pretty! Why are you carrying apples?" she looked down at the apples, almost forgetting she had them. She smiled back just as enthusiastically.

"Thank you Naruto! These are for you guys, I don't think what Kakashi-sensei said is true. Want one Naruto?" Naruto nodded eagerly. She threw him one, and he bit into the juicy center immediately. She looked at Sasuke.

"Want one?" Sasuke gave her a long had stare.

"Hn." Sakura smiled on the outside, but on the inside she was itching to throw the apple at his face.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said. She beamed it, aiming for his pretty boy face. He caught it though, him and his damn ninja skills. He bit into his too.

"Sakura-chan, aren't you worried that we'll get in trouble?" a sticky-faced Naruto asked.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Naurto," she scolded him. Naruto swallowed the pieces of apple in his mouth and gave her an apologetic smile. "No, I think he said that to scare us. But hurry up and finish them." she commanded.

About an hour later, Naruto and Sasuke looked restless. Not Sakura, she was used to Kakashi's timing. And she knew that Kakashi probably wouldn't show up for another few hours, so she was still planning what to change in the future, and what not to change. She knew she definitely was going to stop Orochimaru, there was just no way around that. And if she stoped him before the chunnin exams, she wouldn't have to worry about Sasuke getting the curse seal.

Last night when she was trying to sleep, Sakura thought of a brilliant plan. Find Orochimaru before the chunnin exams. It was a long shot, that much was clear. But if she could find where he was before he killed that grass nin, then she could catch him by surprise. And no doubt he would underestimate her, and that would give her an advantage. Then she really wouldn't have that much worries in the chunnin exams.

While there were a lot of pros to the situation, she was inviting a lot of cons. Like the fact that even if she did kill him before the exams, she still had Gaara, the sound three, Kabuto, and a whole lot of others that could possibly want revenge if she killed Orochimaru. Ugh, this was all so much to think about. If only her and Shikamaru had been as close as they were in the future right now, she could've confided to him about this and he could give her pointers.

And how would she even find him? When Sakura had volunteered at the interrogation center, she became pretty close to Anko. Anko had told her where they found the grass nin's body, maybe if Sakura waited there she could find Orochimaru. Oh, that could work. But would she make it back to the Forest of Death in time, if she even could defeat him? Would she survive?

There was only one way to find out. She'd have to do this.

"Yo, I got lost on the road of life-" he was cut off by Sakura and Naruto.

"Liar!" _Oh, the good ol' times. _She thought. Kakashi scratched the back of his head, his lone eye crinkling into a smile.

"All right, time to get down to business. Remember, this determines if you stay genin, or if you go back to the academy." Blah, blah, blah. Sakura tuned out the rest. There was another thing bothering her, maybe Sasuke would still leave. Sasuke left for power, but he wanted more power from the very beginning. Orochimaru's curse seal just reminded him of his "purpose". There was no guarantee that he still wouldn't leave for more power, maybe to an even greater source of evil.

Maybe to Madara. Nobody knew it now, but Madara was out there somewhere. He could've been lurking around Konoha for years. And if he finds out that Sasuke never went to Orochimaru, he might take matters into his own hands.

"Ahh!" Sakura head snapped in the direction of that battle cry. It was starting, no time to think about that now. Naruto was charging at Kakashi. While Kakashi was going on about waiting, she quickly hid. She wasn't about to reveal her ANBU strength just yet, this was going to be played out as it happened before. So she hid, and hid, and hid.

After about a half hour of hiding, Sakura was about ready to run out screaming bloody murder. Hiding was so boring, Sakura despised her old self. Then she suddenly felt the very familiar chakra signature of none other than Kakashi. He's going to put her in the genjutsu. Fine, she'd let him.

"Hello, Sakura," Kakashi said from behind her. Sakura acted surprised and screamed as she turned around. She found herself staring at the leaves flying around her.

"Ugh, Sa-Sakura..." she smirked.

"Sasuke-kun!" her smirk turned into a smile.

"Help me."

"I don't think I will, Sasuke-kun. After all, you are just a genjutsu. Release!" she shouted, everything went back to normal. "Kakashi-sensei's going to have to do better," she muttered to herself. She sighed, now that she wasn't weak, this whole thing was a bore. She started to walk toward the place where she saw Sasuke in the ground. When all else fails, making fun of Sasuke will help. When she walked into the clearing, she was a little disappointed to see him already almost out of the hole, oh well, she could still have a good laugh.

"Sasuke-kun?" she said in between giggles. When Sasuke turned his head in her direction, she burst into a full fit of laughter. She couldn't help it. He was even blushing!

"Hn." the timer went off. She laughed again and offered him her hand.

"Here, lets go," he stared at her hand for a few seconds, before relunctently grabbing it and allowing her to help him.

The first thing they saw when they reached the posts was Naruto tied to one. That didn't change. They saw Kakashi standing a few feet away from knew that the speech was coming, so she zoned out again. But this time she didn't plan out anything, she just sat there.

"...Now don't you - Sakura and Sasuke - feed Naruto. Or you'll fail." he poofed away. Sakura opened her food and picked some food up with her chopsticks.

"Open wide, Naruto." he looked at her, shocked.

"But-"

"No buts! Kakashi-sensei said that we lack teamwork, and if you're hungry that affects all of us. So just shut up and eat." he nodded and opened his mouth.

"Naruto finished about half the food when Kakashi showed up.

"YOU ALL... pass." he finished sweetly. Sakura grinned and started cheering.

Now all she had to do was stupid D-rank missions and they would fight Zabusa. And she still had things to plan out. At least she's a gennin.

* * *

Review!!!!!!!


End file.
